Greencycling your shoes

This post brought to you by If The Shoe Doesnt Fit. All opinions are 100% mine.

Remember your college days?  You and your roommates sharing and swapping your entire wardrobe with each other?  That way you could all get more outfits and not have to spend any more money (after all, you were probably living on ramen noodles already).

For me, the best part about clothes swapping was the shoes.  I love to accessorize with shoes, and getting to share shoes with my best friend made it easier and more fun for both of us.

So, when I first heard about If The Shoe Doesnt Fit, I thought it was a great concept.  It’s like eBay, but for shoes.  They also have an option to Sell, swap or shop for shoes.

It’s a fun way to join the green movement.  This way, instead of throwing away your shoes (and contributing to the 300 million pairs of shoes that Americans put into landfills every year), you can save your planet and your wallet.

The idea is simple – auctions for shoes.  The site works much the same way as other sites.  Except the fees to list an item are much lower.  It costs just $1 per item.  There’s no percentage of the sale when it sells either.

There are a few improvements I would like to see on If The Shoe Doesnt Fit as it matures.  I would like to see the swap system developed and changed a bit.  Right now, you have to agree to swap shoes with someone.  You take a pair from them, and they take a pair from you.  You both have to agree.

Eventually, I’d love to see the site develop a more PaperBackSwap method.  (Where you list a pair of shoes, and agree to swap.  But, you don’t necessarily have to swap with that person.  You get a point for each pair of shoes you swap, and you trade your point for a pair of shoes you want.  This way the swap isn’t forced to be only between two people.)

I would also like to see it be a little easier to search by size.  It’s really easy to search by style, but searching by size and color was more difficult.  Making sure that the search fields are the same across all the pages of the site would help.

Again, those are all things that would make the site better, in my opinion.

I really like the idea of being able to trade and sell shoes.  It’s an especially good idea for moms whose kids grow in and out of shoes so quickly!  It’s also good for parents who have kids in sports and need a specific pair of shoes for each sport, but only fit into them for one season.

It’s also a fun way to clean out your closet and make some money while you’re at it.  If The Shoe Doesnt Fit is a fun way to recycle shoes(both yours and someone else’s).  And, as a bonus, you can pretend you’re back in college again.

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7 Comments

  1. Just a note to let you know that we will do our best to respond to feedback – in some cases we are limited by our current software abilities. Effective today, 11/10/10, SWAPS (which used to cost $1.00) are now 100% FREE on http://www.IfTheShoeDoesntFit.com. Listing shoes for sale is still only $1.00 per listing. And search for gender, size, and width, as well as title and description has been relocated to the top left of the home page (advanced searching is still available as well). Thank you for your feedback!

  2. Hi Earl –
    Thanks for your feedback as well. It’s great to be reminded of those good health guidelines we should all follow for any items you buy or pass along whether it be from family friends or strangers. So regardless of if it’s clothing, shoes, or even furniture (with today’s bed bug concerns no one can be too careful), it is a good idea to clean and inspect items carefully before using them. As we’ve seen in the investigative reports done by news shows, sadly, even retail stores are now having problems with health concerns, so your reminder about cleaning items before using/wearing them is appreciated!

  3. lots of kids. I think its a nice idea.We always quarantine used items.Could you microwave shoes w/o ruining them?are bedbugs impervious to microwaving?hot dryer?

    • Going Green

      Could you microwave shoes without ruining them… Don’t know… probably depends a lot on the shoes! You’d do better (if you have a washer/dryer, to throw the shoes into the washer, then stuff them with newspaper (to maintain the form) and toss them into a hot dryer with a couple of towels. This will kill bedbugs and most of the bugs in your shoes too.

  4. Sue

    I think this is a great idea! I have bought many pairs of shoes that I have never worn and ended up not taking back to the store. They are brand new and I would love to trade them in to someone who could use them.

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